THE TALES OF UNCLE REMUS: Further Adventures of Brer Rabbit, His Friends, Enemies, and Others

Thirty-seven stories, completing the cycle begun in The Tales of Uncle Remus (1987)--an appendix lists the 15 that have been omitted (just not good stories, according to the introduction to the first volume) and the 10 (from both volumes) that have been paired and combined. As in the earlier collection, the stories are told in Lester's adaptation of his own voice, which he describes as "". . .a modified contemporary southern black English, which is a combination of standard English and black English."" Again, he throws in some delightfully pungent anachronisms (""It wasn't natural to go to bed with the sun and get up with it. If God had meant for folks to live like that, he wouldn't have invented electricity""--and at one point Brer Rabbit installs protective Plexiglas windows). The tone can be dark; several stories are concerned with a famine, and there are some cruel tricks and deaths. But as Lester observes about one of them, ""That ain't one of my favorite stories, but. . .Brer Wold must've done something sho' 'nuf terrible to Brer Rabbit for him to carry on like that. . .Of course, if I. . .thinks about some of the things been done to me and mine, I begin to understand that story more and more. I sho' do."" Again, Pinkney's detailed drawings and full-color double-spreads contribute humor and a strong sense of place. Libraries will want to have both volumes of this splendid retelling. A real treasure for storytellers and reading aloud.